Leaping from Hobby to Homestead

When this journey began with a few chickens about five years and 500 miles away, farming was a hobby. A few eggs and a small veggie patch. With the move to a new property, new climate, and new animals we’re making the transition from more modern methods to traditional methods. Our homestead is first and foremost about subsistence but with more land come more opportunities and we are moving our homestead into the business realm as well.

Without further ado, let’s meet our intrepid band of increasingly serious homesteaders:

Gerald – The mechanic and onsite project manager. If it needs fixing, Gerald is your guy. Although he spends his days working off the farm, he’s usually to be found on his tractor, in a field, or in his shop come 5:00 PM.

Jan – The brains of the operation. Jan loves her heritage breed chickens, goats, and pigs. While she started in chickens, she’s expanded but makes sure that all her animals get plenty of love, pasture, and Oregon sunshine. Jan can always be found among her animals, supervising projects, or overseeing the littlest homesteader.

Ashley – The haphazard organic gardener, learning one plant at a time. Ashley also answers to the title of farm muscle, project assistant, and cook. If there’s work to be done, Ashley is never far from the farming action.

Forrest – If it can be automated or technologically enhanced, Forrest is on it – like creating a dusk to dawn door for our chickshaw! Forrest is also our web guru and fixes the small glitches that crop up in our systems from time to time.

Jill – A part-time farmer, Jill spends her days working off-site but her weekends and some evenings taking part in projects. Jill is the queen of the spreadsheets and is working to expand the homestead as a sustainable small business.

Rose – The littlest homesteader, chief watering officer, with a side hustle in chicken scratch, and a burgeoning tractor enthusiast.

A Brief Introduction

Welcome to Little Red Hen Farms aka the Tucker-Parker Homestead. We are a small family working to make a previously neglected but lovely piece of Oregon land into a working and productive homestead. We currently have around 60 heritage laying chickens, a few turkeys, 3 Gloustershire Old Spot pigs, 2 Kune Kune pigs, and our two lawnmowers, oops, goats, George and Martha with three more coming soon.